Penn National Gaming Plans to Offer Sports Betting in Three States

West Virginia lottery officials confirmed sports betting would be arriving in the Mountain State on September 1st.

This will increase the total number of states that made sports betting legal to five.

Get Ready, West Virginia

Following the announcement by West Virginia officials, the operator of casinos and racetracks Penn National Gaming made an announcement of its own, confirming the launch of sports betting at its Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. The new sportsbook venue will be located near the Hollywood Casino’s Skybox Sports Bar.

The new sportsbook, which will offer its services to West Virginia customers, will be powered by William Hill, or its US-based division to be precise.

Back in March, the lawmakers approved Senate Bill 415 legalizing betting on sports at the state’s casinos and following the repeal of the controversial PASPA Act a couple of months later, all conditions for West Virginia to begin offering sports materialised.

The Bill also gave the green light for online and mobile wagering, but the latest announcement by Penn National Gaming didn’t include a single word on these. So, if there are plans to offer online and/or mobile betting, we will have to wait for the detailed info.

Back in July, Timothy Wilmott, Penn National Gaming Chief Executive Officer said his company wasn’t planning any huge investments in sports betting, but it seemed the operator had different plans.

Mississippi and Pennsylvania Are Also in Line

A couple of weeks ago, Penn National Gaming announced the launch of sports betting in all of its five casinos in Mississippi, which was scheduled to go live by the end of August.

Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast and Boomtown Biloxi went live on August 17, while the remaining three venues have made the same move a week later.

In addition to West Virginia and Mississippi, Penn National Gaming should start offering sports betting in Pennsylvania as well, since the operator applied for a sports betting license in this state.

This move was announced by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), which stated the application had been made by the company’s subsidiary Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing subsidiary. Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing currently operates the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.

The application arrived only a couple of days after the PGCB published the state’s final sports betting rules, which were almost identical to the interim regulations issued earlier this summer. The state’s gaming regulator also stated sports betting would be available at least until October.

We can expect the other 12 casinos currently operating in the state to apply for a license in the coming period, although the current tax on sports betting revenue, which stands at 36%, may cause a problem for the entire industry.

Wilmott said earlier the high tax could make sports betting a non-factor in terms of revenue.

Pennsylvania will follow West Virginia’s example and allow online and mobile betting, while Penn National Gaming is already present online through its Hollywoodcasino.com website, and will likely offer online slots, table games, and poker.